UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Palestinian People

‘Israel Genocide?’ Support Statement for the Movement For Black Lives

“Israel Genocide?” is joining the growing chorus of support [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] for the Movement For Black Lives (M4BL) and its inspiring Policy Platform.

M4BL has been under fire for a section in the platform that addresses US billions of dollars military funding to Israel, in which it charged Israel with the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people. Not only do we support M4BL’s inspiring vision of social justice, but we also support their use of the term ‘genocide’.

The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.

Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 3

The following acts shall be punishable:

(a) Genocide;

(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;

(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;

(d) Attempt to commit genocide;

(e) Complicity in genocide.

Article 4

Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3 shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.

We are people from all around the world who fear that we are witnessing the genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel. We watch in horror as Israel’s daily violations of Palestinian human rights are systematised in practice, law, and social acceptance: Military take-over of land, house demolitions, colony construction, economic strangulation, restriction of movement, restrictions on basic foodstuff, mass arbitrary arrests of both adults and children, torture, extra judicial executions, large-scale massacres of whole families, and openly calling for genocide and extermination by law makers and other public figures, to name some.

Our aim is to raise awareness on the matter of Israel in the context of genocide, by archiving studies about the issue, and statements like those of M4BL. We hope that in identifying the crime of genocide as it is being committed and publicising our assesment, we will embolden those entrusted with collection of information and analysis- the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide- and those entrusted with indictment and enforcement- the International Criminal Court- to take action against the “crime of crimes”- Genocide.